International Capsules: U.S. Olympians begin checking in at Vancouver
RICHMOND, British Columbia — Noelle Pikus-Pace gasped as she glanced around the hotel ballroom to see the mountains of boxes piled around and overflowing with red-white-and-blue U.S. Olympic gear.
"This is amazing," the skeleton racer said Monday, when she joined dozens of teammates in suburban Vancouver for team processing by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
"I just can't get the smile off my face," Pikus-Pace said, in between trying on different sweaters. "And I feel like I'm going to have it on for another 22 days."
The prospect of sorting through all the free clothes — sneakers and boots with red laces, T-shirts and turtlenecks — provided by sponsors wasn't the incentive Pikus-Pace used to come back from a shattered leg that prevented her from competing at the 2006 Turin Games. But it was a pleasant reward.
"It's been a long time. To get to this point is pretty incredible, and it's a little surreal still," she said, showing off the red and blue streaks she had colored into her blond hair. "But I think little by little it's starting to kind of set in."
She's not the only one, who was a bit overwhelmed.
From the hulking members of U.S. men's bobsledding team to tiny pairs figure skater Amanda Evora, there's nothing like a free shopping spree to get into the Olympic mood.
"Oh my gosh!" shrieked Evora, when asked about her new red running shoes. "I've never had red shoes, not even red high heels. And I'm not one who likes to buy too much for myself, but today, it's all about me."
This is the first Olympic Games for the 25-year-old Evora, who will be competing with Mark Ladwig. Veteran U.S. team members had told Evora about everything sponsors make available to athletes, but she had to see it to believe it.
"I came off the plane, and it's just been present after present," she said. "It's really exciting. You can't hide it inside."
Pushing around an oversized cart, athletes made their way around the room, stopping at several stations to sort through the clothes, including the Ralph Lauren-designed uniforms for Friday's opening ceremony.
They feature off-white cotton pants, which can be matched with an assortment of tops ranging from a heavy blue jacket trimmed with red along the pockets and around the collar to dark blue heavy sweaters. Underneath, athletes will wear turtlenecks.
The uniforms were inspired by the ones worn by U.S. athletes at the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Games.
And that's not all. Athletes also were sized for an Olympic ring, a watch and a leather jacket.
The Vancouver Games are the third Olympics for luge team member Tony Benshoof, and he described the assortment of items — and their quality — the best of the three.
"I went to 2002 and 2006, and it was all great, but this Ralph stuff is really nice," Benshoof said. "I'm only halfway through, and I can't believe it. It's like Christmas in February."
Benshoof will compete in the men's single luge in what he expects will be his final Olympics. Benshoof is competing despite having three herniated discs in his back.
Pikus-Pace's Olympic journey has proven to be an uplifting and resilient one.
She was the world's top-ranked skeleton racer on Oct. 19, 2005, when her right leg was broken in a horrific crash during a training session in Calgary, Alberta. She was standing near the end of the track when a bobsled with an inexperienced driver at the controls couldn't stop in time and smashed into Pikus-Pace, sending her flying.
The injury not only dashed her chances of competing at Turin, but also nearly ended her career.
Pikus-Pace skipped the 2007-08 season to have her daughter Lacee, before returning to competition in 2008 in a bid to qualify for Vancouver.
The injury, the time off and her new role as a mother have all contributed to provide Pikus-Pace with a new perspective as she prepares for the competition to open at the Whistler Sliding Center on Feb. 15.
"Going into 2006, I think I just viewed the Olympics a little bit different than I do now," she said. "Back then, it was more of just something that fell into place. I was first in the world, and it was expected of me to go the Olympics and to win a medal."
And now?
"I feel lucky to be here," she said.
IOC, USOC begin talks on improving relations
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — U.S. and international Olympic leaders opened discussions Monday in a bid to improve relations and settle the financial issues that have isolated the Americans from the rest of the Olympic movement.
Scott Blackmun, the U.S. Olympic Committee's new chief executive officer, and USOC chairman Larry Probst met with International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge and other officials to begin the new dialogue.
Probst and Blackmun met for about 20 minutes with Rogge in his hotel office. Also attending were the two IOC members from the United States, Anita DeFrantz and Jim Easton.
"It was a good, friendly and positive meeting," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.
USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky called the talks "very friendly, very positive."
Blackmun, who served as the USOC's interim CEO in 2000, was appointed to the full-time position last month and will be in charge of turning around the committee's international fortunes.
The USOC's troubled standing was brought home in October by Chicago's humiliating first-round defeat in the vote for the 2016 Games, which were awarded to Rio de Janeiro. That followed New York's humbling defeat in 2005 for the 2012 Olympics.
The USOC officials also met separately Monday with the three-man IOC group dealing with the revenue-sharing and other money disputes that have caused resentment among many IOC members.
IOC executive board member Gerhard Heiberg, who is on the panel along with Denis Oswald and Mario Vazquez Rana, told The Associated Press that progress was made in the financial talks. He declined to give details.
"It was a short meeting, but it was very positive," Heiberg said. "We will meet again to continue the discussions."
Many IOC members and international officials are annoyed the USOC still receives a 20 percent cut of global sponsorship revenue and 12.75 percent share of U.S. broadcast rights deals.
The two sides agreed last year to begin formal negotiations on the revenue-sharing dispute in 2013. Also at issue is how much the USOC should pay toward so-called "games-time" expenses, including the cost of anti-doping operations and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
-- Stephen Wilson
Rogge expresses concern about Russian doping cases
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge urged Russia on Monday to get tougher on drug cheats, voicing his concern at the high number of doping cases among Russian biathletes and cross-country skiers.
Just four days before the start of the Vancouver Games, Rogge said he raised the matter in recent meetings with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Russian sports officials.
"We have alerted the Russian authorities, and we expect them to comply," Rogge said. "I understand that people are worried by the numbers. It is absolutely legitimate to be worried. It is now important for the Russian authorities to respond with strong anti-doping actions."
Rogge said it is up to the World Anti-Doping Agency to monitor Russia's record and compliance with drug rules.
More than half a dozen Russians have been suspended in the past year for using banned blood-boosting drugs.
"I was puzzled by the numbers," Rogge said. "That's why I spoke to the president of the republic. That is expressing concern."
On a separate issue, Rogge said he was not worried about the conditions at Cypress Mountain, where unseasonably warm weather has forced local organizers to truck in and fly in snow for the snowboard and freestyle skiing venue just north of Vancouver.
"There is no danger for the competition," he said. "We have absolutely no concerns whatsoever. There is no concern, and there is no Plan B."
Rogge also played down the threat of protests by anti-Olympic activists during the games, including a planned march on Friday, the day of the opening ceremony.
As long as the protests are peaceful, Rogge said, the IOC is not concerned.
"We accept protests," he said. "It's part of a democratic society. What we want is no violence. If people respect the laws of the country, then there is no problem."
Russian athletes will be under tight scrutiny during the Vancouver Games, where the IOC is conducting a record 2,000 urine and blood tests — 800 more than in Turin four years ago. Under a testing program that began last Thursday, athletes are subject to surprise out-of-competition controls at any place and at any time.
Three top Russian biathletes — including five-time Olympic medalist Albina Akhatova and former world champion Yekaterina Iourieva — received two-year suspensions last year after testing positive for the blood-boosting drug EPO.
Russian cross-country skiers Julia Chepalova, Yevgeny Dementiev, Nina Rysina and Natalia Matveeva also were banned for two years for using EPO.
Another cross-country skier, Alena Sidko, was dropped from Russia's team for the Vancouver Olympics last month for the same offense. She won a bronze medal in the individual sprint competition at the 2006 Turin Olympics.
Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva was stripped of a silver medal after becoming the only athlete to test positive at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin. After serving a ban, she is back with the Russian team for the Vancouver Games under her new married name of Olga Medvedtseva.
Rogge was asked why she should be allowed to compete at the Olympics again.
"In law once you have served your time, you are entitled to come back into society," he said.
Under IOC rules adopted since the Turin Games, any athlete receiving a doping sanction of six months or more is automatically banned from subsequent Olympics.
On another matter, Rogge defended the decision to reinstate convicted ex-Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee as an IOC member.
Lee gave up his IOC rights after being indicted in 2008 in a financial and tax evasion case. He was accepted back into the IOC on Sunday after the South Korean government pardoned him late last year, freeing him to push Pyeongchang's bid for the 2018 Winter Games.
Rogge said Lee was treated the same as two other IOC members who had been pardoned by their governments and that none of the three cases involved sports matters.
While reinstating Lee, the IOC also reprimanded him for tarnishing the Olympic movement and banned him from serving on any commissions for five years.
"We are tough on our members just like we are tough on athletes," Rogge said.
-- Stephen Wilson
Vancouver Olympics
As Ligety, Mancuso proved, upsets happen in skiing
This was one wager U.S. Alpine racer Julia Mancuso's ski technician was all too willing to lose, even if it involved a little public embarrassment.
Andrea Vianello made a bet with a U.S. coach that went something like this: If Mancuso captured a gold medal at the 2006 Turin Olympics, Vianello would ski down the slope wearing only his boxer shorts.
Well, Mancuso won the giant slalom, and Vianello lost his pants.
The moral of this tale? There are no safe bets in Alpine skiing at the Winter Games.
Surprises happen. Quite often, too.
"It's really, really hard to predict what's going to happen," said David Wallechinsky, an author and Olympics historian. "In Alpine, you make one slight slip and it's over — at least your goal of a medal. It's not a matter of choking or performing badly, it's just that's the way it is. Anybody can have the race of their lives."
Mancuso falls into that category. So, too, does teammate Ted Ligety, who won the combined in Turin despite never finishing better than 10th previously.
Men's downhill champion Antoine Deneriaz of France was another surprise. He arrived in Turin ranked 38th in the World Cup standings, had failed to finish better than seventh in a downhill all season and had not won a World Cup race since 2003.
Yet he won by the biggest margin in an Olympic men's downhill in 42 years, knocking off a field that included American Bode Miller and Austria's Hermann Maier.
"It's not track and field or swimming. It's far from guaranteed, even if you're the favorite," Ligety said. "It's hard to fully put those expectations on somebody."
All it takes is one rock, one slippery spot on the course, one bad turn to ruin a medal-winning run.
That's why Lindsey Vonn is not counting on anything, despite being touted as a can't-miss pick.
"I've just had the mind-set that I need to try to ski the best that I can every single day, and hopefully I can execute well on each day," Vonn said. "And hopefully I get a little luck as well."
Luck definitely plays a role. As do expectations — the fewer, it seems, almost the better.
"If you're ranked 14th in the world, nobody is expecting anything of you, nobody is interviewing you," Wallechinsky said. "If you finish 14th, nobody is going to get mad at you, nobody is going to say you failed. So you're relaxed, and you go for it. Sometimes going for it means falling. Sometimes it means crossing the line in first place."
Such was the case for American Debbie Armstrong, who won the giant slalom at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, as well as these surprise gold medalists:
—Bill Johnson was the first U.S. man to win a downhill title, also at Sarajevo.
—Francisco Fernandez Ochoa won the slalom in 1972 for Spain's first Winter Games gold.
—Leonhard Stock, an alternate heading into the 1980 Olympics, skied so well in practice he was put on Austria's team and won the downhill.
Who will it be this time?
Canada's Erik Guay in the super-G? This is, after all, his turf, his mountain. Or how about Olympic rookie Andrew Weibrecht of the United States in the downhill?
And don't discount experience.
This is the third Olympics for giant slalom specialist Denise Karbon of Italy, and she might be a relative unknown who rises up.
So, too, could Slovenia's Tina Maze in the slalom, or France's Ingrid Jacquemod shocking Vonn & Co. in the downhill, or Austria's Romed Baumann in the combined, or his teammate, Klaus Kroell, in the downhill or ...
"There's a bunch of guys that are super, super fast on a given day," Ligety said. "It's tough to pick out one dark horse."
Mancuso and Ligety were just a couple of 21-year-old kids when they won. They had no pressure, no presumptions, no publicity. This time, though, they arrive at Whistler Mountain as gold medalists.
"I try to approach ski racing with a calculated nonchalance, almost, because of the sport being so finicky in the sense that it's not guaranteed you're going to win," Ligety said. "Oftentimes, you have more failures than successes, and you just have to be able to brush those failures off and look forward to the next day and try to hammer again."
Ligety doesn't consider himself a favorite to win gold in the super-combined this time, instead tabbing Carlo Janka of Switzerland and Benjamin Raich of Austria as the ones to beat.
But Ligety does like his chances in the giant slalom, even with Raich and Switzerland's Didier Cuche — broken thumb and all — in the field.
Why? Because of the way he's skiing.
"Doing well in World Cup events before the Olympics is super-key," Ligety said. "It's so important in ski racing to have your confidence high. It allows you to push your limits even harder."
In that case, Vonn has little to fear. She's been almost unbeatable in the downhill this season — winning five of six World Cup events — and leads the overall standings.
"I think Lindsey has tremendously more pressure on her than I do, really," Ligety said. "She's put herself out there as that four- or five-medal threat. It's definitely going to be mounting on her. But she's definitely one of the skiers that can perform under that pressure."
Mancuso, however, finds herself in a similar spot as four years ago — not really considered a medal threat. She hasn't finished better than eighth this season.
To prepare for defending her crown in Vancouver, Mancuso planned to head to her hometown of Squaw Valley, Calif., for some training runs on a course named after her: Julia's Gold.
Very apropos.
So is this: Mancuso's last podium finish was two years ago in Whistler, taking third in a downhill.
It just might be time for her ski technician, Vianello, to make another wager. Yep, those pants of his could be at risk again.
"I would like to repeat that," Vianello said. "I will definitely do it if she gets any type of medal. That's a promise."
-- Pat Graham
Whatever the weather, U.S. moguls team is ready
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Cypress Mountain passed a major test Monday, as freestyle skiers completed their first pre-Olympic practice sessions and Winter Olympic organizers kept dumping snow on competition courses in unseasonably warm weather.
"It's absolutely fine," World Cup champion Hannah Kearney said after her training runs. "It's as if there was no problem."
Trucks and helicopters still were dumping snow onto the mountain in an effort to get the Olympic venues ready for the Vancouver Games, which open Friday.
The first event scheduled is women's moguls qualifying on Saturday, with the finals to be raced later that day. Men's qualifying and finals follow on Sunday.
Even before practice, the American Kearney didn't sound worried about anything the mountain could throw at her.
"I've skied on rocks, I've skied on ice, I've skied in the rain. This is nothing," she said.
Only athletes and their coaches were allowed at Monday's training, so as not to interrupt preparations, said Dave Cobb, the executive vice president of the Vancouver organizing committee.
"There's still a lot of snow being trucked and flown in to ensure we have enough contingency snow if the warm weather continues," Cobb said. "There's a lot of activity going on."
The weather in and around Vancouver has created some problems for Olympic organizers at Cypress Mountain. Further away in Whistler — where the Alpine and Nordic events will be held — conditions are fine.
"It's warm up here," Kearney said in a phone interview from the moguls course. "The snow is soft, grainy, but there's plenty of it."
On the course, that is. "It's brown under the lift," Kearney said.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said he had "absolutely no concerns whatsoever" about the state of Cypress Mountain.
"There is no concern, and there is no 'Plan B,'" he said.
World champion Patrick Deneen also was confident events would go ahead on Cypress Mountain.
"If there's snow we will ski for sure," he said. "I've seen pictures, and it looks like there's a lot of snow on that course right now. They've been trucking it in and really making it happen."
Christian Hrab, director of high-performance for Canada's snowboard teams, said the landscape of white ribbons of snow draped over bare hillsides reminded him of Bardonecchia, the similarly bare Alpine resort where the snowboarding events were staged at the 2006 Turin Olympics.
"It's kind of odd because outside of the field of play there is no snow, and where there was snow, they took it to bring it to the field of play," Hrab said. "And then there is this white, glistening paradise where the field of snow is."
Hrab said the snowboardcross track had held up well during testing over the last couple of days, and the halfpipe also looks good.
"The pipe has perfect walls, they are 22 feet high, the snow is white, and really they are ready," he said.
John Furlong, the CEO of VANOC, said the organizing committee briefed the International Olympic Committee on the state of the mountain Saturday.
In order to get the venues prepared, organizers already have canceled two days of halfpipe training and pushed back parallel giant slalom training by two days.
Building the halfpipe is organizers' biggest challenge. Once competition begins, they'll also need to reconfigure the snowboardcross course into a parallel giant slalom course in a limited amount of time. Last year, a PGS event at Whistler was canceled when the course could not be converted in time.
Cobb said organizers were considering using chemicals to harden the snow on the halfpipe, where competition starts Feb. 17.
"We're happy with the state of the other courses," Cobb said. "On the freestyle course today training starts. We'll get a sense of how the courses hold up over the next few days."
U.S. Olympian Shannon Bahrke said a bit of warm weather would not put off athletes who have trained for years for a shot at the Olympics.
"We've worked our whole lives for this," she said. If the conditions are not perfect, "it's not going to be, 'Nope, I'm not going to do it.'"
-- Mike Corder
Notebook: U.S. ski jumpers struggle to make ends meet
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — No money, no opening ceremonies and maybe no really meaningful competition. It's not easy being a part of the U.S. Olympic Ski Jumping team.
Not only will the cash-starved American squad miss the opening ceremony Friday night, they face the possibility of being eliminated from their first event before the Olympic cauldron is even lit. Qualifying for individual normal hill jumping starts Friday afternoon in Whistler, a two-hour ride from Vancouver, site of the opening ceremony.
With first jumps for qualifiers on Saturday morning, Anders Johnson, Nick Alexander and Peter Frenette can't be in both places.
"I definitely wanted to go to opening ceremonies but wasn't going to be too bummed out if I couldn't," said Frenette, a 17-year-old from Lake Placid, N.Y. "It's more important to do well."
It takes a lot to "bum out" the three young men competing in a sport that hasn't received full funding since the 2006 Games. Today's jumpers rely on family for most of the $20,000 a year it costs each compete, choosing their sport ahead of college even if it means mowing lawns, washing dishes, and scooping ice cream to pay the bills.
They started their own private team, called Project X, from scratch three years ago, hiring their own coach for a group of top U.S. juniors, and finding their own sponsors.
"It's really difficult to do with how the economy is now," Johnson said. "It's huge sacrifice for us. Nick and I should be moving onto college, but we're sacrificing that part of our life for our sport. And it's an even bigger sacrifice for our family to work that extra bit to keep that Olympic dream alive for us."
They stay in the cheapest hotels they can find, wax their own skis and even sew their own ski suits to keep going.
"It's just a leap of faith that one day we will get funding if results are improving," Frenette said.
They have, with Alexander, a 21-year-old from Lebanon, N.H., qualifying for six International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cups. Anders Johnson, 20, competed in Turin, Italy, in 2006 before blowing out his knee last summer, and Frenette is coming off a top-20 finish in Japan. As if the pressure of making it past Olympic qualifying weren't enough, they are keenly away how much a strong showing would mean to their sport.
"Ski jumping isn't exactly a huge sport in the U.S., and it's kind of a constant struggle for us to make it well known," said Johnson, who came back from a torn ACL in July in just three months and qualified for the Olympics at the last minute. "It's definitely tough for us because we don't have much support, and finances are pretty rough for our team. We do best we can, but it takes a few breakthrough results to get yourself known."
WOMEN'S MOGULS TEAM
The U.S. Olympic women's moguls team arrived in Vancouver on Monday to heightened medal expectations after finishing first through fourth at a World Cup event in Lake Placid, N.Y., last month. Hannah Kearney, Shannon Bahrke and Heather McPhie all finished on the podium, with Michelle Roark fourth.
"It's incredible to be part of a U.S. sweep right before the games, and maybe it is pressure and more attention from American media," Kearney said. "But I would be excited to get the public behind us because we have four people with a really good chance at a medal, so tune in."
Any added pressure on the U.S. team is nothing, however, compared to the hype surrounding Canadian gold-medal favorite Jennifer Heil. Notably absent at the recent American-dominated races in Lake Placid, Heil is the defending Olympic champion.
"I can sort of imagine what it would be like, put myself in her shoes, and I don't envy it," said Kearney, a World Cup champion who went into the 2006 Games as a medal favorite but never made it out of qualifying. "It depends how she handles it, but I did just learn that Canada has never won a gold medal as an Olympic host. She seems like she's got it pretty well figured out how not to internalize those things and have it affect her performance, but who knows? At one point this season I said I really want to go into the Olympics as the favorite because that would mean I was skiing incredibly well and dominating. But you know what, being the 'underdog' is easier."
UNBEATABLE BUT INSPIRATIONAL
The brass for Canada's snowboard team spent a good portion of their half-hour press conference talking about increased funding and what it means to their squads. They talked at length about how the best support in the program's history had produced the best Canadian teams ever, citing 26 World Cup and championships medals last season as an example, and boldly called for up to five medals as 2010 Olympic hosts.
They were not, however, predicting any upset of American Shaun White, the reigning gold medalist in the halfpipe.
"That would be a pleasant surprise," said Christian Hrab, director of high-performance for Canada's snowboard teams.
"We can give thanks to Shaun for pushing snowboarding — not just our team but all the world's teams and all of snowboarding — and inventing the future, if you will. What he's done and what he is doing is fantastic. He's helped a lot of people open their eyes to the possibilities of acrobatics in the half pipe."
-- Kevin Woodley
Canadian Alpine team brimming with confidence
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Manuel Osborne-Paradis isn't shying away from the attention and high expectations of an entire nation as the Canadian Alpine ski team prepares for the Vancouver Games.
What began as a mundane, happy to be here-themed news conference on Monday, quickly turned into a show of confidence by a team eager to make the most of its home-slope advantage.
When asked about the favorite in the men's downhill at Whistler on Saturday, Osborne-Paradis pointed to himself: "I think I've got a big advantage, because I'm skiing fast right now."
As the overall buzz in Canada grows as the games draw near, there's additional attention being paid to the Alpine team, and Osborne-Paradis in specific.
A two-time winner on the World Cup circuit already this season, Osborne-Paradis has a chance to become the first Canadian skier to win an Olympic medal since Edi Podivinsky won bronze at the Lillehammer Games in 1994. And no Canadian athlete won a gold medal in the two previous Olympics held in Canada — the Montreal Summer Games in 1976 and Calgary Winter Games in '88.
That's a shutout Osborne-Paradis is very familiar with.
"I've heard that question a lot," Osborne-Paradis said, before noting he hopes he doesn't have to deal with the question ever again after Saturday.
Osborne-Paradis — or 'Manny,' as he's called — has reason to be confident as he celebrated his 26th birthday Monday.
He grew up skiing on Whistler and is familiar with the mountain's ever-changing weather conditions, including the blinding fog that occasionally shrouds the middle of the Dave Murray run, where the competition will take place.
Osborne-Paradis also has previous Olympic experience: he finished 13th in the downhill at the Turin Games in 2006. And then there's the success he's enjoyed this season, currently ranked third in the downhill, after finishing fifth last season.
"Right now, this is the best I've ever skied," he said. "When you're at a level you've never achieved before, I think it's a lot easier to just be confident."
Coach Paul Kristofic was impressed by what he heard from his top skier.
"That's the kind of confidence you only get by having success. And this is a guy that can win any race he starts right now," Kristofic said. "He's the first guy that will tell you that pressure's a privilege. If you come into this thing and the whole country is looking at you, they're looking at you for a reason."
Reminded that Osborne-Paradis now must meet those expectations, Kristofic shrugged. "That's fine," he said. "I have no problem with that."
The team was to travel to Whistler later Monday and prepare for its first training runs on Wednesday.
Osborne-Paradis, who grew up in North Vancouver, was looking forward to making the familiar two-hour drive along the picturesque Sea-to-Sky Highway, which he last traveled over the summer to visit his parents.
"It's kind of a humbling drive all the way up," he said.
If all goes well, the trip back might be even more breathtaking.
-- John Wawrow
Janka carries Swiss hopes for overdue Alpine gold
GENEVA — Carlo Janka was just a toddler when his ski-obsessed nation last won Olympic gold in men's Alpine racing.
Now Switzerland is counting on the 23-year-old breakout star to end the country's long wait at the Vancouver Games, especially with veteran team leader Didier Cuche sporting a cast on his broken right thumb.
Surely Janka senses history beckoning him to follow Pirmin Zurbriggen, who won the downhill at the 1988 Calgary Games?
"You're the first that has said it to me," Janka told The Associated Press last week before flying to Vancouver. "Yeah, it'll be good for us when we can make some gold medals in skiing."
Janka said he'll start thinking of the games at the first downhill training run scheduled for Wednesday.
"I'm very relaxed, the Olympics are not there," he said. "It's too far at the moment. It's a few days until my first race."
Swiss head coach Martin Rufener said he sees Janka as a contender on four fronts: downhill, super-G, giant slalom and super-combined.
"He's ready. He always is ready," Rufener said. "You have to be mentally strong, and he is one of those guys."
Janka was fully focused when winning his world title last February, the day after his good friend Daniel Albrecht awoke from a three-week induced coma following a crash on the feared Streif slope at Kitzbuehel, Austria.
This season, Janka is second in the overall standings on the grueling World Cup circuit, despite missing weeks of offseason training to recover from a virus.
Then last month he won the classic downhill at Wengen — the nation's signature sports event — to delight the more than 30,000 fans lining the longest course on the circuit.
Race rivals marveled at Janka's error-free run and his calmness in a finish area pulsating with patriotic cheers.
"He is one of the best skiers I've ever seen. He has everything it takes to win," said 38-year-old Marco Buechel, soon to be a six-time Olympian who placed third that day.
Buechel, a one-man Liechtenstein team who trains with the Swiss, suggested "freaking out" when winning in front of a home crowd.
"Maybe in Vancouver, maybe," a smiling Janka said at Wengen. "Some racers do dances or something like that, but I'm not this kind of guy. I do my thing, and I'm happy with that."
Friends and family say Janka lets his feelings run free when watching Manchester United play.
He has been a fan since the English soccer team became European champion in 1999, though his choice of favorite player hints at a humble personality.
Janka preferred the down-home charms of dependable utility player John O'Shea over the obvious glamour of forward Cristiano Ronaldo.
Now, it's Janka's turn in the spotlight.
"Maybe, I don't know," he said. "I just race in the moment."
That Olympic moment could soon be here.
-- Graham Dunbar
Former U.S. Olympic skier Heuga dies at 66
BOULDER, Colo. — Former U.S. Olympic skier Jimmie Heuga, who won a bronze medal at the 1964 games and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis six years later, died Monday. He was 66.
University of Colorado ski coach Richard Rokos, a longtime and close friend of Heuga's, said the former NCAA champion for CU died at Boulder Community Hospital.
"He was a very strong man and an inspiration to so many people in the ski world and the medical world," said Huega's wife, Debbie Huega. "He's skiing the hills of heaven right now."
Rokos said Heuga had recently been dealing with respiratory problems.
Heuga finished third in the slalom at the '64 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. Fellow American Billy Kidd won the silver. It was the first time U.S. skiing had gained prominence worldwide.
"Jimmie Heuga was a champion in every sense of the word," said U.S. Ski team president Bill Marolt, who skied with Heuga on the 1964 Olympic Team. "He was a champion as an athlete, as a person and any way you want to measure him.
"When I look back at all the athletes I've known, pound for pound, Jimmie Heuga was the toughest I've ever met. He was a 5-foot-6, 140-pound guy who didn't back down from anybody. That's the kind of toughness you need to be a champion."
Heuga, born in Squaw Valley, Calif., won the 1963 NCAA championship in the slalom.
In 1968, Heuga and Kidd were pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated before they competed in the Olympics at Grenoble, France.
Heuga was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1970 after displaying symptoms for a year. The effects of the disease eventually confined him to a wheelchair.
"He was the personification of determination and never giving up — he inspired so many people," Kidd said in release from the U.S. Ski Team. "Jimmie's accomplishments on the race course will forever be remembered. But it's his accomplishments and drive in the fight against MS that will continue to help so many people live their lives. His life is an inspiration."
Heuga founded in 1983 the Jimmie Heuga Center for M.S. in Edwards, a nonprofit organization now called Can Do Multiple Sclerosis.
He spent the last 12 years of his life at the Balfour Retirement Community in Louisville, but still attended two or three Colorado football games every season. He also stayed active by riding a specially made three-wheeler around the track on the CU campus.
"He did so many things you wouldn't expect him to do," said Rokos, who became Heuga's personal coach. "Riding that three-wheeler became his own Olympics."
Heuga was inducted into the United States National Ski Hall of Fame in 1976.
Huega is survived by his wife and their three sons — Wilder, 20, Blaze, 18, and Winston, 15 — Debbie Huegas said her husband has a daughter from a previous marriage, Kelly Hamill, of Seattle.
Schwarzenegger, Coe to run Vancouver torch relay
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Arnold Schwarzenegger will hand the Olympic torch off to Sebastian Coe on Friday morning, the day of the opening ceremony at the Vancouver Games.
The California governor and the two-time Olympic gold medalist runner were revealed Monday as torch relay participants along with several famous Canadians, including the father of hockey great Wayne Gretzky.
"Clearly we want to have a big finish," said John Furlong, the CEO of the Vancouver organizing committee.
Besides Walter Gretzky, other notable relay runners include astronaut Julie Payette, singer Jann Arden and former hockey player Richard Brodeur.
The 106-day relay is closing in on Vancouver, where a protest is planned for Friday afternoon just hours before the opening ceremony.
"If we have people who decide to come to the route to express their view, this won't be new. We hope it's respectful," Furlong said. "If we have a few challenges they will be managed professionally."
VANOC executive vice president Dave Cobb said the organizing committee has notified the International Olympic Committee of the protest possibility.
"We told them what we expect and security is telling us that the protests that may occur are expected to be peaceful and within the law," Cobb said. "If they are then we're fine with it, but the security forces are prepared to react if people break the law."
IOC executive board member Gerhard Heiberg said the Olympic body was not overly worried about the protests.
"I wouldn't call it concerns," said Heiberg, who organized the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway. "We have to accept protests, and there will be some. Fine, we are used to that. That's normal."
-- Chris Lehourites
Norwegian ski jumper breaks finger in fit of anger
OSLO — Norwegian ski jumper Bjorn Einar Romoren will compete at the Vancouver Olympics with a broken little finger after slamming his left hand into a wall in frustration over a disappointing jump.
The 28-year-old Romoren said Monday the fracture will pose "no problem" for him at the games despite undergoing minor surgery Sunday to set the finger.
He says he banged his hand into the wall because he was "frustrated" and "deeply disappointed" by his performance at a weekend World Cup event in Willingen, Germany.
The Norwegians are among the favorites in the team event and finished second behind Germany in Willingen on Sunday. Romoren won a bronze medal with Norway in the team event at the 2006 Turin Games.
Figure Skating
Art or sport? Figure skating strives to be both
Rachael Flatt's free skate would have the best athletes in any sport gasping for air, their leg muscles spasming in pain. Seven times she launches herself into the air, doing three quick turns before landing on a blade no thicker than a pencil.
Mirai Nagasu's program, meanwhile, would draw raves from art critics. Every movement from the tips of her fingers to the blades of her skates is fluid and light, as if she's dancing across the ice, and her spins have one breathtakingly unique position after another.
"One is a great athlete, one is an artist," Nagasu's coach, Frank Carroll, said after Flatt and Nagasu's 1-2 finish at last month's U.S. championships. "They're nothing alike."
Figure skating has long struggled to balance the art that makes it so captivating with the athleticism that makes it a sport, and the current judging system has only heightened the debate. With everything — jumps, footwork, spins, transitions, expression — now quantifiable, some complain that artistry is being sacrificed in the effort to crunch every last decimal out of a program.
Indeed, the big tricks — quadruple jumps for the men, triple-triple combinations for the women — can produce medal-winning scores. But do them without intricate footwork, fine edge quality and beautiful spins, and a performance seems hollow, little more than a blueprint.
"That debate has been going on for years," said Canada's Joannie Rochette, the world silver medalist. "Personally, I like to watch a performance where you can see artistic with athleticism together.
"Everyone has a different definition of what art is and what athleticism is," she added. "The most important thing is that you enjoy your own skating, and then other people will enjoy it, too."
The current scoring system was implemented after the Salt Lake City pairs judging scandal in hopes of reducing cheating. By assigning numerical values to every jump, spin and section of footwork, it gave judges an objective way to evaluate at least some of what skaters were doing.
The fear, though, was that it would turn skating into a jumping contest. The base level of a triple toe loop, for example, is higher than that of any spin, spiral or footwork sequence. Do a bunch of jumps and do them well, and even a first-grader can understand that math.
"I was one of the men afraid it would become a jumping contest, like men's gymnastics," said Jeff Buttle, the 2008 world champion and 2006 Olympic bronze medalist.
In fact, it's been quite the opposite. Buttle and reigning world champion Evan Lysacek both won their world titles without even trying a quad in either the short or long programs — a complete reversal from earlier in the decade, when Tim Goebel did three quads in the free skate alone to win the bronze at the 2002 Olympics.
The risk, many skaters had decided, was too big. A quad, if done well, can earn a skater big bonus points. Fall or do it poorly, though, and you're out of the medals hunt.
There also isn't the time to devote to the quad like there once was — during the program or in training. It takes many, many hours of practice before a quad is consistent enough to put in a program. But with every other element being counted, a skater can't afford to focus so much energy on just one thing.
It's the same for the women. Mao Asada is the only top woman even trying the triple axel these days, and quad sightings are as elusive as Bigfoot. Even triple-triple combos, which Kristi Yamaguchi was doing back in '92, are no longer a must-have.
"We work on the quad, we practice the quad, but it's never been the main focus of my career," Johnny Weir said at last month's U.S. championships, explaining why he doesn't have one in his program. "It's a beautiful, wonderful thing when you can do it, but I'd rather skate a clean program and show something that's beautiful and excellent."
That attitude, though, doesn't sit well with all skaters. Brian Joubert has been at the center of dustups at the last two world championships for bemoaning the lack of quads among the top men.
"The competition was completely different. It was more fun, more exciting, and I think we have to change it," the 2007 world champion said in March, nostalgic for the days when the quad was king.
Which brings us back to the art vs. athleticism debate.
The big tricks are enjoying a resurgence this season. Reigning world champion Kim Yu-na has been doing triple-triple combos the last few years to keep pace with Asada, her longtime rival. Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko and Turin runner-up Stephane Lambiel are back, and quads have long been a staple of both of their programs.
But this still isn't freestyle skiing.
When Plushenko broke his own world record for the short program at last month's European championships, it wasn't simply because of his jumps. His spins went on for what seemed like days and were so perfectly centered the tracings looked as if they'd been made by a protractor. His footwork was exquisite.
When Jeremy Abbott won his second straight U.S. title, some people might not have even noticed he'd done a quad. Everything, from that quad to his footwork, was of the highest class, done with ease and elegance.
"When I saw him skate, I was so happy," Buttle said. "He married (art and athleticism) together. It wasn't about that one jump; it was still about the whole program."
But there are plenty who are concerned the system is stripping the sport of its beauty and individuality, and creating formulaic, cookie-cutter programs.
"It's turned everyone into robots out there doing the same spins, the same jumps," Weir said. "I don't think it's the most beautiful thing for figure skating. We've lost our individuality and our chance to be artistic."
Some have figured it out, though.
As choreographers — and skaters — get more comfortable with this system, they are finding that balance once again.
Abbott, for example, did a quad at the beginning of his long program at nationals at virtually the exact same spot on the ice as four other guys. But nothing in his program remotely resembled anyone else's.
Lysacek spent weeks this fall tinkering with his programs to change the entrances into his jumps, doing them out of steps or spread eagles. Not only does that bump up his point total, it makes his programs more unique.
"I'm trying to do layer upon layer," said top choreographer Lori Nichol, who has done Lysacek's programs for years. "I'm trying to appeal to those that I know have spent the hours and time and really understand the incredible difficulty of some of the things we're doing on the ice. And then I try to do it so that anyone can enjoy it. I think of what my mom's watching and think of what my neighbor's watching.
"How do I make this program enjoyable for them?"
Figure skating never will completely solve the art vs. athleticism debate. Skaters will always come in different shapes and sizes, with different abilities and strengths. And you can crunch numbers on everything from jumps to interpreting music, but you will never be able to tell someone how to feel about what they've seen.
But there is some common ground.
"I think good skating is the answer, and I think doing great performances is the answer. You have to have a complete package," said Carroll, who also coaches Lysacek. "It's like baking a pretty good cake. It doesn't matter how much flour you put in if that's all you put into it."
-- Nancy Armour
Sailing
America's Cup opener postponed by unsteady wind
VALENCIA, Spain — Having two of the fastest, most technologically advanced sailboats ever built doesn't do much good if there's not enough wind to sail them.
It's almost as if Mother Nature pulled a fast one on the two bickering billionaires contesting the America's Cup.
The opening race of the eagerly anticipated showdown between two-time defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland and American challenger BMW Oracle Racing was postponed Monday because of light, unsteady wind.
The giant multihulls USA and Alinghi 5 were towed out of port before dawn to get to the starting line some 28 miles off the Valencia coast. They floated idly for nearly four hours in the cold before the race was called off.
"This is just the nature of the beast, I think," USA tactician John Kostecki of Reno, Nev., said shortly after the 90-by-90-foot trimaran arrived back at its boatyard in a steady rain. "Because this time of year, you get more frontal action, and that's what this is, a front passing."
So after Alinghi's Ernesto Bertarelli and BMW Oracle Racing's Larry Ellison poured all that money, time and effort into sustaining a court case for 2½ years and building their massive boats, they'll have to wait until Wednesday, when officials will try again to get in Race 1 of the best-of-three series.
Bertarelli, Alinghi's president and helmsman of Alinghi 5, a catamaran, said he was convinced Sunday night and Monday morning that they were going to sail.
"But from 10 o'clock this morning, the meteorologists told us the chances weren't going to improve."
That was just before the huge boats were to begin the prestart maneuvers behind the half-mile-long starting line on the Mediterranean.
"We're going to have to wait," Bertarelli said.
"It could take a while to get races in," Kostecki said. "It depends on how the weather develops."
BMW Oracle meteorologist Chris Bedford was only "hopeful" the race will get under way Wednesday.
"In the afternoon it could turn into a sea breeze," said Bedford, who expects choppier conditions after a new weather front pushes through on Tuesday. "For sure today it was the right call."
The teams are finally settling their differences on the water after the sailing classic was disrupted by a bitter court fight over rules, dates and the venue.
Monday's conditions illustrate how difficult this regatta could be.
There were reports throughout the late morning and early afternoon that the wind was blowing at 6½ to 10 knots at the top mark. The problem was, that mark was 20 miles from the starting line, so the two areas were in different weather patterns.
There was little, if any wind, at the starting line.
"We prefer having consistent breeze to race in, and obviously we didn't have that out there today," Kostecki said.
The entire race course encompasses 400 square miles.
"It's a big ask to get that much runway that has consistent wind direction," said Bedford, a veteran of eight America's Cups. "It's going to be quite difficult."
This is the first time an America's Cup has been contested in the Northern Hemisphere winter, just one of the outcomes of the ponderous legal fight between Bertarelli, a biotech tycoon, and Ellison, the CEO of Oracle Corp.
"The conditions just weren't good," Bertarelli said. "It's the winter. Ideal conditions in Valencia would have been May — that's what we asked initially, but we were forced in February."
Because Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing couldn't agree to rules for a conventional regatta involving several challengers sailing for the right to meet the defender, it defaulted to a rare head-to-head showdown, or Deed of Gift Match.
The Deed of Gift, the 1887 document that governs the event, calls for a best-of-three series. Races 1 and 3, if necessary, are 20 miles into the wind and 20 miles back. The course for Race 2 will be a triangle with 13-mile legs, the first one into the wind and the next two across it.
USA and the equally immense Alinghi 5 are capable of sailing three times the speed of the wind — when there is wind.
Alinghi did find enough breeze to sail around USA and the committee, apparently trying to show it was OK to get a race going.
"We wanted to sail a little bit to show them that that's what we like to do," Bertarelli said. "We wanted the public to have some fun, to make it a little bit like a party. The America's Cup should be a party."
Although Ellison and three-time America's Cup winner Russell Coutts were aboard USA for the tow-out, they weren't on the crew list. Ellison had said he would sit out Race 1 due to weight limits. Coutts, the syndicate's CEO, had said in recent days he wasn't sure if he'd sail.
Kostecki was the only American among the 10 crewmen listed for a boat that's trying to recapture the America's Cup for the United States for the first time since Dennis Conner lost it to Coutts and Team New Zealand in 1995.
-- Bernie Wilson
